More Articles

Subscribe to The Dispatch

Already a subscriber?
Enroll in EZPay and get a free gift!
Enroll now.

By P. Solomon BandaASSOCIATED PRESS • Sunday June 16, 2013 11:13 AM

Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoMARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ | ASSOCIATED PRESSJudy Scott of Black Forest, Colo., waits for a meeting at a high school in Monument for residents affected by the wildfire. Scott’s home was damaged in the blaze.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A Colorado sheriff said yesterday that firefighters “are getting the
upper hand” on the most-destructive wildfire in state history.Meanwhile, authorities gained a
clearer picture of the grim landscape the blaze has left behind.

No additional homes were destroyed as fire crews expanded containment lines, El Paso County
Sheriff Terry Maketa said. Also, there were no new reports of deaths or injuries, he said.

The fire that exploded on Tuesday in Black Forest, outside Colorado Springs, has destroyed
nearly 500 homes and killed two people. Their bodies were found in their garage on Thursday, their
car doors open as though they had been about to flee.

Yesterday, worried residents waited for permission to return to their neighborhoods to see
whether their homes were standing.

Maketa said the fire’s destruction has made it difficult for his deputies to assess damage.

Deputies have said “it looks like a nuclear bomb went off in some of those areas, and you can’t
even recognize whether it was a house or some other kind of structure,” Maketa said. “That is the
level of incineration and destruction that took place in some areas.”

Containment is at 55 percent, an increase from 45 percent earlier yesterday. It’s unknown what
sparked the blaze amid record-setting heat and tinder-dry conditions, but investigators suspect a
human cause. It has cost more than $3.5 million to fight.

Most mandatory evacuation orders have been lifted, as the fire zone remained at 25 square
miles.

Some residents have gotten to see the damage for themselves.

Jack and Judy Roe were able to tour their neighborhood on Friday, and saw to their relief that
their house had been spared. Several other homes on their block were destroyed, however.

“Our hearts were breaking for our neighbors,” Judy Roe said.

Describing the scene, she said she saw charred piles of what remained of homes, with bricks the
only distinguishable feature.

“But other than that, everything is black. The ground, everything is just black,” she said.

Some residents were forced to evacuate so quickly that they didn’t have time to pack a change of
clothes.

“This is my wardrobe,” said Bob Metzger, pointing to his jeans and polo shirt. Metzger and his
wife, Barbara, were among those who lost their houses.

The Black Forest wildfire is only a few miles from the site of the state’s
second-most-destructive ever: the Waldo Canyon Fire that burned last summer.

The lessons from that fire spurred a quicker response, officials said.

Elsewhere in Colorado, fire crews worked to contain other, smaller wildfires. In Canon City, 50
miles southwest of Black Forest, the Royal Gorge Fire had burned 5 square miles and was 65 percent
contained. A lightning-sparked fire in Rocky Mountain National Park had burned nearly 500 acres and
was 30 percent contained.